In U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,831, incorporated herein by this reference, a protective metal-ring mesh glove is disclosed with a fastening strap also made of metal-ring mesh material. The metal-ring mesh fastening strap is purportedly easier to clean; more wear resistant, especially when subject to high pressure water jets and solvents; and also less restrictive than prior art plastic, leather, or fabric straps. Such plastic, leather, or fabric straps are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 629,901; 1,250,150; 2,862,208; 2,864,091; 4,388,733; 4,750,218; 4,843,650; 5,054,126; 5,511,241; 5,704,066; 5,729,831; 752,769; 1,010,199; 1,106,708; 3,883,898; 3,953,893; 4,004,295; 4,229,496; 4,438,532; 4,471,495; 4,493,865; 4,507,353; 4,802,242; 4,841,577; and U.S. Pat. No. DES 348,141.
Still, in some embodiments of the metal-ring mesh fastening strap glove structure, silicon plastic metal stiffeners and short rubber fastening straps are required. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,831, col. 2, lines 22-27; FIG. 4; col. 4, line 63-col. 5, line 4; and col. 5, lines 26-29.
The reason is that although the representation is made that metal-ring mesh material is impossible to compress against the direction of the grain, see col. 4, lines 52-59, in practice this is not true and in fact metal-ring mesh material is not very stiff in any direction. As such, a glove with a metal-ring mesh wrist strap tends to fall down the user's hand. And, when silicon plastic stiffeners and additional rubber fasteners are used to make up for the weakness and flexibility of the metal-ring-mesh fastening strap, the easy to clean feature of the metal-ring mesh fastening strap is defeated.